Tag Archives: Bayern Munich

What’s the Bavarian for ‘o joga bonito’?

13 Monday Feb 2017

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While they won a second of three consecutive European Cups, beating Leeds United in the final, the 1974-75 season was very forgettable for Bayern Munich domestically.

They finished in tenth place in the Bundesliga, beginning the season with a 6-0 loss to Kickers Offenbach and suffering defeat on 12 more occasions. One of the few away games they won was at Kaiserlautern on May 3, but the next seven seasons would see five losses and two draws at the Betzenbergstadion (now Fritz-Walter-Stadion).

So bad was the situation that, after the 2-0 loss there in 1982-83, Bayern legend Paul Breitner said that they “might as well just send the points there” rather than fulfilling an unfulfilling fixture. However, Udo Lattek – who returned as coach at the start of 83-84, having been sacked in 74-75 – had a different idea.

Bayern normally wore white shirts and socks with red shorts at ‘Lautern, but, in consultation with general manager and kit suppliers adidas, Lattek reckoned that if Bayern could look like Brazil, a similar performance might follow.

adidas-bayern-munich-munchen-1983-third-shirt-trikot-kaiserslautern-brazil

One area where the new look differed from the classic Brazil look was the very dark shade of green. The new kit was kept secret to such an extent that it wasn’t revealed until Bayern walked out on the field – they didn’t even warm up in it. The odd thing, though, was that, instead of the usual red, Kaiserlautern played in green, so theoretically, Bayern could have worn red.

 

Klaus Augenthaler’s goal, coupled with a penalty save by Jean-Marie Pfaff, was sufficient for a 1-0 win. They wouldn’t lose there again until March 1991, but Lattek seemed to have decided that it was the sky-blue socks which were the charm as they often partnered the white shirts for games there later in the 80s.

The ‘Brazil’ look wasn’t seen again, though Bayern would have a yellow, black and green away kit from 1993-96.

How clubs sponsored by Opel dealt with UEFA’s ‘sponsor clash’ rule

17 Tuesday Jan 2017

Posted by in Clashes, Football kits, Kit history

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Until the end of the 2009-10 season, UEFA had a rule that clubs opposing each other in European competition couldn’t feature the same sponsor’s logo on their shirts.

The regulations for that season were the last to feature the following stipulation:

Clash of shirt sponsor

19.10 If two clubs meeting in the competition have the same shirt sponsor, the home team may wear their regular sponsor advertising whereas the visiting team may only wear advertising for a product of the said sponsor. No identical advertising elements may appear on the shirts of the two teams in question. The visiting club must send a sample of such new shirts to the UEFA administration for approval.

For the following season, that requirement was removed and, as luck would have it, Real Madrid and AC Milan – both sponsored by Bwin – were paired together in the group stages.

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A year later, Milan – by now sponsored by Fly Emirates – would come up against Arsenal, who have been partners with the Dubai airline since 2006.

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Emirates are ubiquitous among Europe’s elite, with Arsenal, Hamburg, Milan, Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain currently carrying their name. Incidentally, in Arsenal’s first season with Emirates, they encountered Hamburg in the Champions League, and for the two clubs’ group games, the away side had the word ‘Dubai‘ on their shirts instead.

German car manufacturer Opel once held a similar status as a multi-team sponsor. Having been associated with Feyenoord, Fiorentina and Standard Liege – they are back with the Dutch side again – by the mid-90s, three of what would become the Emirates five – Milan, Real and PSG – were in their portfolio, along with Czech side Sparta Prague (and the Republic of Ireland).

In 1995, Milan met Sparta in the UEFA Cup and in each game, the away side went sponsorless – though it could have been the case that advertising a product of the sponsoring firm wasn’t allowed at the time.

To mark the fact that PSG had come into their stable, Opel sponsored a triangular competition between its three marquee clubs in 1996. Naturally, the pushing of the brand was welcomed, rather than prohibited, here.

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The competition would be repeated in 1997 (when Milan wore a one-off change strip) and 1999 with the same three teams, before the entry requirements were relaxed in 2000.

In the 97-98 Champions League, Bayern and PSG were drawn in the same group. For their meeting at the Olympiastadion, PSG wore blank shirts…

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…but in the return game at the Parc des Princes, Bayern carried the message, ‘Sportler für Organspende’ (‘Athletes for organ donation’).

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In the 2000-01 competition, it would be the turn of Milan and PSG to meet. On this occasion, both clubs took the opportunity to promote the Opel Corsa. Incidentally, Milan would from time to time use other Opel model names.

Two years later, Bayern met Milan, but by this stage the German giants had ended their 13-year deal with Opel, joining forces with Deutsche Telekom instead, and so no change was needed.

Fantasy Kit Friday 2016 – a look back

29 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by in Fantasy Kit Friday, Football kits, News

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Hopefully, you’re aware of Fantasy Kit Friday, our weekly attempt to dress a team up in a historical style different to that which they actually wore. Tomorrow, December 30, will be the final instalment of the year, so we felt it an apposite time to collate all of the offerings together.

While the concept of a weekly edition only manifested itself this year, the idea itself is actually just over two years old, as we road-tested it with four Irish Gaelic games teams in classic adidas:

 

They got a fairly good response, albeit to a limited audience, but other things got in the way of it becoming a regular feature. Even when we gave it a name in April, it was still ad hoc – though, unoriginally, the template was becoming fixed:

It would be nearly a month before another attempt:

We were getting some ‘engagement’, as the digital marketing bods call it, but there was an inherent fear that our adidas bias was unhealthy. We threw it out to the floor, though, and the first request for the now-hashtagged #fantasykitfriday was still from Herzogenrauch, though of a later vintage.

Another break of more than a month ensued – we were learning how to draw on Adobe Illustrator – but this one kick-started a regular weekly flow of higher-quality renderings.

Where possible, we liked to be topical:

And then, occasionally, surreality prevailed (there was a break of a week due to holidays).

At the end of July, work took us to Leeds for a few days, so inspiration was taken from that.

Some of our favourite kits have been the ones that you know could never have happened but still look great.

There’s always time to return to the classic look.

Other times, we feel generous enough to give a two-for-one.

Request are accommodated as much as possible, as it saves us having to think.

For September 9, we conferred with our old sparring partner Andrew Rockall, a massive Tottenham Hotspur fan, to come with a whole suite of Spurs kits and we published them all here. If you can’t be bothered to check, this was the home:

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Some kits can meet opposition from traditionalists…

…and others that you might be unsure about turn out to be well-received.

It’s often fun to use a team’s current (or, in this case, soon-to-be-former) maker and go back to before they had them.

And there are others that are very out there.

This one worked a lot better in our heads than on the screen, sadly.

If we had time, every week would feature a home, away and third as well as goalkeeper kits. Unfortunately, we don’t, but it does make these ones more enjoyable.

As far as we can see, this is the only instance of a team’s own home kit being recoloured.

Looking at these again, one almost has to do a double-take and remember that City didn’t actually have Hummel.

Their rivals switched to Umbro in 1992, but might have looked like this if they did it sooner.

Just after drawing this, we were very pleased with it. Until it was pointed out that Germany’s leisurewear in 1996 was just like this, so that’s probably where the idea subliminally came from.

Another request, more on which you can read about at the wonderful Hull City Kits.

The bias is very much towards the past, so it’s no harm to mix it up every once in a while.

And it’s not all top teams we do either. Any suggestion will be considered.

Collaborate with a friend for an idea, if you want.

But be warned, we can be selfish when we want.

Edit: For completeness, here is the final one:

The 1990s – an increasingly blue decade for Bayern Munich and adidas

29 Thursday Sep 2016

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As we touched on in the recent piece on Cork City, we like the fact that Bayern Munich like to mix things up with their home kits.

A quick perusal here (it hasn’t been updated since 2013, unfortunately – we would love to a Bayern version of CorkCityKits.com but tracking all of the variations could prove debilitating to our mental health) shows just how varied they have been. However, while they dabbled with striped shirts in the 1970s, for most of the 80s the look was solid.

As Spinal Tap might put it, the kit was ‘none more red’, apart from the necessary adidas trimmings in white and the club crest and sponsor. That was to change utterly during the 90s, however.

The main kit worn in the 1990-91 season (we say main as there were quite a few derivatives) was a classic in this regard:

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As we mentioned in our 1990-91 Serie A kits series, 1991 was a significant year in terms of kit design. Bolder and brasher was the order of the day, with adidas punishing the boundaries on whether kit elements were designs or trademarks. As well as issuing Bayern with their new aggressive template, they introduced blue to the kit (a more ‘traditional’ version was worn by Bayern’s amateur team). Austin Long of Soccer Nomad has a fairly sound theory that the blue was from the Bavarian flag, which is represented on the Bayern crest.

adidas-Bayern-Munich-Munchen-1991-1992-home-shirt-trikot.png

Two years later, and the design evolved, bringing with it more stripes and a further sprinkling of blue, this time on the sleeves as well. Incidentally, the same shorts were used, despite not being a perfect match for the newer stripe configuration.

adidas-bayern-munich-munchen-1993-1994-home-shirt-trikot

Blue and red stripes was not a completely unknown look for Bayern as it has been seen in the 70s (and was revitalised in 2014 again), but the decision to pair the look with blue shorts and white socks in 1995 made for a very unusual visual. Pretty much exactly the same shirt, apart from a slight different in collar trim, would be given to Crystal Palace in 1996.

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While a return to something more traditional might have been expected when another new kit was due in 1997, adidas instead continued to push the blue envelope, darkening it in the process. First seen on the final day of the 1996-97 season as Bayern celebrated winning another Bundesliga, one could have been forgiven for assuming that it was a change kit, so reversed were the colours from what would have been expected.

adidas-Bayern-Munich-Munchen-1997-1999-home-shirt-trikot.pngOf course, in Munich, blue had always meant 1860 rather than Bayern. For the stadtderby between the clubs during this kit’s lifespan, Bayern did turn out in red for their ‘home’ games at the Olympiastadion – a stock adidas design used by France and Rangers.

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When the time came for another change in the summer of 1999, the logical step – following the pattern of recent offerings – would have been to ditch the red completely and have a blue and white kit, but instead Bayern were outfitted in what, in our view, became an instant classic, right down to the hooped socks.

adidas-Bayern-Munich-Munchen-1999-2001-home-shirt-trikot.png

The shirt following that in 2001 was a similar design but in a darker red and, apart from the 2014-15 kit and the red-and-white striped 2010-11 anniversary kit, red has remained dominant. We’ll always the 90s, though.

The evolution of adidas goalkeeper shirt designs – part 3

22 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by in Goalkeepers, Kit history

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For those just joining us – feel free to read Part 1 and Part 2.

As mentioned previously, the timeline of changes isn’t all that clean. France’s Joel Bats wore the horizontal pinstripes of Part 2 as they won Euro 84, but that tournament saw adidas’s newest goalkeeper look unveiled, and it would last for the guts of four years.

A common theme through these articles so far has been West Germany goalkeeper Harald ‘Toni’ Schumacher and he was again to the fore with this new look. As usual available in a number of colours, it featured diagonal stripes on the torso, tonal to the main colour. Whereas dark shorts were generally the order of the day with past designs, now there was an option to match the shirts.

In the spring of ’84, Germany played France in a friendly and Schumacher appeared in yellow shirt and shorts, with white socks. He would don the blue look more at the European Championships, though, while a red variation was available but not used.

Also utilising the new look at the Euros were Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia. For some reason, Belgium goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff had black stripes on his shorts and socks.

adidas-belgium-goalkeeper-shirt-jersey-euro-1984-pfaff

Pfaff would later be seen – for his country and his club, Bayern Munich – with extra padding, creating a ‘quilted’ effect. As we have no evidence of anybody else with this variation, we must assume that it was an after-market addition that he arranged himself.

Whereas the previous two styles covered weren’t seen in England, the diagonal type was, with Manchester United’s netminders, Garry Bailey and Chris Turner, using it in 1985-86. In the same season, Steaua Bucharest reached the European Cup final, beating Barcelona on penalties. Their keeper Helmuth Duckadam was the hero and he too wore green.

By the 1986 World Cup, it had become fairly ubiquitous, though also on the verge of being superseded. The most interesting variation was that worn by Canada goalkeeper Paul Dolan.

adidas-Canada-goalkeeper-shirt-jersey-World-Cup-1986.png

Two unusual variations were used by Argentinian goalkeeper Nery Pumpido with his club, River Plate. The green version was of a different shade to the Manchester United/Steaua Bucharest shirts, and later in the 80s he wore purple – we haven’t found anybody else wearing it, and the sleeves were cut slightly differently.

As mentioned above, France didn’t use the design, but the distinctive white-blue-white-red-white striping tape used by them was also seen on Yugoslavia shirts – in fact, the Yugoslavia shirt of 1987 was pretty much exactly the same as that used by France in 1982. The accompanying GK shirt was in this style and used the striping.

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The last documented usage we have is from October 1988. While Hans van Breukelen had helped the Netherlands to Euro 88 victory wearing the new design which succeeded this – featuring a geometric pattern, which we’ll see in Part 4 – for a World Cup qualifier with West Germany he was back in the diagonals, in a rarely-seen grey.

adidas-Netherlands-goalkeeper-shirt-jersey-1988-van-Breukelen.png

As always,  a huge debt of gratitude is owed to the users on the forum at The Glove Bag, who provided a wealth of information, including little-known variations of the blue shirt with black stripes and an orange edition mainly sold in the US.

 

A certain kind of Neuer-osis

08 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by in Football kits, Kit history

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It should be an inviolable fact of football that the one colour a goalkeeper never wears is that of his team’s home kit.

If teams only changed when they clashed with their opponents or didn’t have special cup kits in traditional problems, it wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s something which is becoming more prevalent of late.

We’ve already cited David Seaman wearing red for Arsenal in 1992, while Paddy Kenny took advantage of Leeds wearing blue at Millwall (itself a two-fingers to the navy-clad Lions) to don a white top. On the continent, noted philistine Emiliano Viviano of Sampdoria and Marseille’s Steve Mandanda are noted proponents, along with another serial practitioner.

Bayern Munich have had red goalkeeper shirts in the past, such as in the late 1990s when their home jersey was navy , but they have become very common during Manuel Neuer’s tenure between the sticks at the Allianz Arena. When he joined in 2011, it took a while for the Bayern support to take to him as he had come from their hated rivals Schalke 04 and had imitated a famous Oliver Kahn celebration while there, so perhaps it’s part of a desire to show that he is one of them. Whatever the reason, he has worn red in each of the past four seasons.

G2012

2012-13
Bayern played: Borussia Mönchengladbach away (all-white)
Bayern wore: All-black Champions League/third kit
Bearing similarities to the ‘classic’ Bayern style, which was resurrected as Champions League kit in 2000-01, this featured gold adidas stripes, allowing it to be worn with the home shorts and socks.

G2013

2013-14
Bayern played: Manchester City at home (all-white)
Bayern wore: Three-tone blue Champions League/third kit
Bayern like to wear non-red kits in the Champions League group stages, but generally revert for the knockout stages. While the previous season’s red GK shirt was a unique design, this was in the same design as Neuer’s first choice and again matched with the regular outfield shorts and socks.

G2014

2014-15
Bayern played: Shakhtar Donetsk away (orange and black stripes)
Bayern wore: All-white away kit
A very interesting design, essentially following that of the new black Champions League/third kit with the colours reversed. Also of interest is the fact that Neuer seemingly dispensed with socks for the game, wearing tights over his shinpads. Bayern’s home kit in 14-15 i have blue stripes but red was still the dominant colour.

G2015.jpg

2015-16
Bayern played: Wolfsburg away (white shirts, green short)
Bayern wore: All-navy third kit
This season, Bayern wore their home kit in all of their home Champions League games, so options for Neuer to appear in red have been limited, despite the fact that this is marketed as the away GK shirt, following the template used by almost all other adidas teams. The game at Wolfsburg in February saw it used.